I discovered Jen Manion’s powerful book, Female Husbands: A Trans History while perusing a feminist book club’s reading list. The history of anything piques my interest. As a citizen of the world and as someone with dearly held trans people in my life, I want to learn more.

Manion (Associate Professor of History at Amherst College) writes that, “as a historian, it is my mission to try to understand how female husbands understood themselves and were perceived by others in the terms of defining gender and sexual difference than were available to them in their lifetimes.”

Female husband was a term used for roughly 200 years by the British and Americans in reference to a person assigned female at birth but who chose to live as a man and assume “the character”. There were so many reasons for them to do so, aside from wanting to live in a manner that aligned with their gender. Women’s lives were stifled by patriarchal and religious constraints. Manhood meant being able to move through the world independently and with fewer safety concerns. Manhood opened the way to professional opportunities and increased income. Female husbands could participate in society in ways women could not. They could drink in public houses and learn firsthand about community happenings and political developments.

But when they were outed for romancing female wives and claiming powers meant for heterosexual white males, they drew public curiosity and ire.

Journalists from 1746 through 1910–the period of the book’s focus–wrote about female husbands to satisfy reader questions. Why did women live as men and marry other women? How did they get away with it? Did the wives know the true sex of their female husbands?

Throughout the book are accounts of wives who insisted that they hadn’t known the true sex of their partner before or after marriage. Several indicated that they’d experienced penetration and so never had cause to question their husbands’ anatomies or lack thereof. Yet others reported distant or sexless relationships. Some readers found these explanations difficult to believe, but for the most part sympathized greatly with the wives. Still, the wives found themselves at risk of violence and legal consequences.

The author explains that for people of the British Empire, the restrictions on their lives and the comfort in which they lived were determined by “settler colonialism, slavery and war”. Female husbands’ individuality and self-determination endangered British imperialism and the notion that motherhood was central to being a woman.

Uncertain as to what law female husbands were breaking, local authorities often charged them under vagrancy laws, a general catch-all term. No laws existed to address cross-dressing or transing gender.

One of several case studies shared in the book is about George Wilson. One evening in 1836, a New York City police officer discovered, reclined on the sidewalk, an individual he presumed to be a drunken male sailor. The arresting officer’s guess was not out of line, given their manner of dress. During the 19^th century, there were plenty of sailor jobs and not enough workers. Females often dressed in male attire, presenting themselves as inexperienced ship hands and worked as cabin boys.

While transporting George to the station, Officer Collins deduced that his prisoner was female. When George came to their senses, they concocted an explanation for their situation, one that would protect details concerning their lifestyle, their wife, and their workplace which was only a few blocks from where Officer Collins had found them. Their story was dismissed when a woman named Elizabeth requested that the magistrate allow her to see her husband—George Wilson.

Newspapers and journals were quick to spread the story of George, a woman living as a man and married to another woman. Some writers were empathetic to George and Elizabeth, while others were judgemental. The story unfolded about young George, who at the age of 12 began dressing and living as a male in Scotland. They married Elizabeth and the young couple then immigrated to the United States where they lived in poverty. Work colleagues spoke positively about George, commenting that after years of working with them, their being male was never doubted.

This leads me to mention an entertaining and informative feminist adventure novel that pairs beautifully with Female Husbands: a Trans History.

On the Sydney Writer’s Festival podcast, I listened to an episode entitled Hidden Heroines which introduced me to author Francesca De Tores. She spoke about her novel Saltblood, inspired by real life historical figure, Mary Read (d. 1721). Assigned female at birth, Mary dressed as a boy throughout childhood at her mother’s behest. Mary left home and after a chain of events and transformations (which I can’t detail without ruining your enjoyment of this fabulous adventure!), they became a pirate.

I highly recommend reading both of these books.

So many points that Jen Manion made in Female Husbands: A Trans History shone through Saltblood. I’m so glad that Francesca De Tores’s novel came to me when it did. The experience of this novel was made all the richer for me because of it.